Posts from — July 2010

I would venture to say that a large percentage of people initially try a raw food diet for weight loss because they would like to easily and healthfully lose a little weight. There is no need to mention that obesity is an epidemic in today’s society, everyone already knows that. And most people know they should be eating better, but it’s not always easy. Cravings, social situations, and finding the time to prepare healthy meals can be a challenge in today’s world.

The good news is, is that most people can lose weight just by switching to a whole food diet and if a large percentage of their diet is raw fruits and vegetables, even better! Most people when starting a high raw diet notice that the pounds just start melting away in just a few months. I actually have had a few people ask me how they could gain weight on a raw diet because they had lost too much weight!

But there is a percentage of people who are still struggling with loosing weight even after adopting a high raw diet. I would probably guess that these people have a slower metabolism, and are probably best described in Ayuverdic medicine as a Kapha Dosha body type. Kapha’s tend to have a small appetite yet they gain weight easily.

Whatever the reason or the theory, some of us (including myself), need to be to be a bit more calculating when wanting to loose weight, even on a raw diet.

My First Tip about Raw Diet and Weight Loss:

Tip #1 Be Aware of Calories

If you are seeking to lose weight on a raw food diet I think it is really important that you start to understand the caloric content of the foods you are eating. I know some people might argue that not all calories are created equal and maybe there is a grain of truth to that statement but the bottom line is: if you’re trying to lose weight, calories count.

The first thing you need to figure out is how many calories your body needs to maintain its current weight. There are many calorie calculators online, I used this one. According to the calorie calculator, I need about 1700 calories per day. So, in theory, if I wanted to lose weight I would need to eat a little less than that per day or to burn some calories off through exercise to eventually lose some weight.

Here is a list of some common foods on a high raw food diet and the amount of calories they contain:

Foods With a Low Caloric Density

1 bunch spinach is about 80 calories

1 head romaine lettuce is about 105 calories

1 cucumber is about 45 calories

Foods With a Moderate Calorie Density

1 medium banana is about 120 calories

1 mango is about 140 calories

1 mejidool date is about 24 calories

Foods With a High Caloric Density

1 cup almonds is about 850 calories

1 cup sunflower seeds is about 820 calories

1 cup macadamia nuts is about 950 calories

1 tablespoon olive oil is about 120 calories

1 teaspoon raw tahini butter is about 85 calories

1 avocado is about 240 calories

Okay, so now lets do some simple math. If you’re making a smoothie in the morning with 4 bananas your smoothie is at least 480 calories. If you are snacking on 5 mejidool dates you are eating 120 calories. If you make a salad with a head of romaine and a chopped cucumber with a raw dressing of 2 tablespoons raw tahini butter to your salad, the salad is about 660 calories because just one tablespoon of tahini butter equals 255 calories A snack consisting of a ¼ cup of macadamia nuts is about 240 calories. I hope this gives you a better idea of how many calories are in some common raw foods.

You also need to take into account where your calories are coming from. According to the Institute of Medicine these are the recommended ranges for macronutrients:

Carbohydrate: 45 to 65% of total Calories

Fat: 20 to 35% of total Calories

Protein: 10 to 35% of total Calories

For example, I need approximately 1700 calories to maintain my current weight so 20% of 1700 is 340. This means if I want to get 20% of my calories from fat, I can only eat 340 fat calories per day. That means that I wouldn’t want to eat more than 3 tablespoons of olive oil a day (they are pure fat calories) or I wouldn’t want to eat more than a ½ cup of sunflower seeds a day. Make sense?

If you want to lose weight, it is best to maximize the number of lower caloric density foods in your diet and use the higher caloric density foods wisely. So that means eating more fruits and vegetables and using nuts seeds/oils not as a meal per say, but as a tasty way to dress up more vegetables. Rarely do I just snack on nuts by themselves. My preferred way to eat nuts is blended in the blender to make a lovely salad dressing that I pour on top of a huge salad. The salad is more likely to satisfy me, compared to just snacking on a handful of nuts.

Just by being aware of the high fat and high calorie content of oils, nuts, seeds, and nut/seed butters you are so ahead of the game when it comes to loosing weight on a high raw diet!

To find out how many calories are in your favorite foods and to figure out how many calories you are eating per day plus other cool and useful nutritional information you can use my favorite online nutrition database.

Click here for my salad dressing e-book where I show you how you can turn nuts and seeds into fabulous raw food salad dressings!

If you would like to lose weight but need more guidance, consider scheduling a raw food coaching session with Cecilia to reach your weight loss goals. Cecilia will give you the practical tools you need to easily add more raw food to your diet to lose weight, experience more energy, look and feel years younger, and radiate a happy healthy “raw” glow.”

Most people use avocados in savory dishes but did you know that avocado has some sweet applications as well? In this blog post I will share with you two sweet raw food avocado recipes including a recipe for raw food avocado pudding.

In California summer is avocado season and we are so blessed to have the most delicious creamy avocados available in season!

According to the California Avocado Comission:

Avocados provide nearly 20 essential nutrients, including fiber, potassium, Vitamin E, B-vitamins and folic acid. They also act as a “nutrient booster” by enabling the body to absorb more fat-soluble nutrients, such as alpha and beta-carotene and lutein, in foods that are eaten with the fruit.

But you really don’t need a reason to eat avocados do you?

In the Canary Islands where my family is from, they have an amazing juice bar called Maria’s where they put avocado in their smoothies to give them a creamy consistency and a lovely flavor. I tried this at home recently and was not disappointed!

Put all the ingredients in the food processor with the S blade, stopping occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Garnish with berries if desired. 4 servings.

I took this to a raw food party and it was a hit. I also served it to my family and they loved it! I have made it a few times and depending on the tartness of the lemons I needed to add more or less lemon juice. I like it really lemony!

The Santa Rosa Raw Health Expo was a huge success last year and is happening again this year July 31st and Aug 1st. This time it will be in Sebastopol, Sonoma County California not too far away from last years location!

I was lucky enough to talk to the founder of the Santa Rosa Raw Health Expo, and long term raw foodist, John Kohler. We talked about:

The Santa Rosa Raw Health Expo 2010

Why it’s so important to grow your own greens and how to get started

How to be a successful long term raw foodist

What he eats on a daily basis and what supplements he takes

Plus he shares with us some of his upcoming projects

Interview with John Kohler long term raw foodist and founder of The Santa Rosa Raw Health Expo 34:38 minutes

Best of all he is offering a discount to the Santa Rosa Raw Health Expo to all Raw Glow Readers!

Get 20% off The Santa Rosa Raw Health Expo by entering the coupon code:

The Raw Health Expo has Attendee Friendly Pricing that makes it affordable for you to attend the expo so you can learn what you need to know about living and raw foods. It is the lowest cost Raw Expo you will find!

Purchase your tickets early to save with early bird specials.

Get 20% off The Santa Rosa Raw Health Expo by entering the coupon code:

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